Pike's Peak gold rush

For many years, people had suspected the mountains in present-day Colorado contained numerous rich gold deposits.

In 1835, French trapper Eustace Carriere lost his party and ended up wandering through the mountains for many weeks.

The party followed the Trail of Tears west, and on June 22, 1850, they crossed the South Platte River (a few miles north of what is today Denver) and camped near the confluence of two streams.

In the summer of 1857, a party of Spanish-speaking gold seekers from Taos, New Mexico, worked a placer deposit along the South Platte River about 3 miles (4.8 km) above Cherry Creek at a location later known as Mexican Diggings near the Overland Park Golf Course in Denver.

Russell was married to a Cherokee woman, and through his connections to the tribe, he heard about Ralston's 1850 discovery of gold along the South Platte River.

Green Russell organized a party to prospect along the South Platte River, setting off with his two brothers and six companions in February 1858.

They rendezvoused with Cherokee tribe members along the Arkansas River in present-day Oklahoma and continued westward along the Santa Fe Trail.

In the first week of July 1858, Green Russell and Sam Bates found a small placer deposit near the mouth of Little Dry Creek that yielded about 20 troy ounces (620 g) of gold, then worth about 380 dollars (about $44,000 USD today.)

[6] This discovery was announced with great excitement by the Kansas City Journal of Commerce on 26 August 1858 with the headline, "THE NEW ELDORADO!!

The Pike's Peak gold rush sent many Americans into a frenzy, prompting them to pack up their belongings and head to Colorado.

Some even dared to go out in the winter of 1858 to try to get a head start, only to realize that they would have to wait until the snow melted to begin mining.